Jealousy
by The Writer Of Lucifenia
Summary: Ellie and Joel have really bonded as father and daughter since moving in with Tommy, but will a mysterious woman who's out for Ellie disturb the peace? Will Ellie figure out why the woman's trying to make her life a living hell? And Can Joel find a way to love Ellie without that eerie fear that he might replace Sarah? Can he protect Ellie unlike Sarah? I don't own cover art.


The early morning sun rose on the horizon, instantly brightening up the premise, the light reflecting off of the dew that kept the ground damp. The breeze was light, not too strong, but not still. The crunch of crisp leaves scattered about the forest floor as woodland creatures scurried about the ground, going about their daily business could be heard. Ellie hated mornings despite how beautiful the forest was in the morning when the sun was high and the creatures were busying themselves. She preferred to sleep late since she could never sleep at night anyways. Who really could in a world where wandering infected and clickers roamed freely, ready to rip you to pieces? Well, Tommy sure slept well, Ellie could still hear his loud, obnoxious snores, interrupting the peace. Ellie regretted it, but she opened her eyes to observe the scenery around her and to see Joel already awake and checking his backpack. Ellie groaned as she rose up to a sitting position.

"Hey, old man," Ellie started. Joel rolled his eyes, never looking up from his bag.

"Mornin' , kid," Joel said in a gruff voice. Ellie got up and stumbled over to sit next to Joel.

"Do we get to go home today?" Ellie questioned.

"I think so. You'll have to ask Tommy. This hunt was a lot more successful than the last one, if we're careful with how we store things, we might have enough for everyone this winter," Joel commented on the successful hunt. There was an abundance of slain animals piled high in the wagon. Everything from squirrels to a bear and every critter in between. The hunt went amazingly, especially in comparison to the last hunt, where they returned home with a single rabbit and two rats. Maria sure made Ellie's life a living hell trying to make the meat stretch for seventy eight people.

"I'm tired, we've been at it for three days. I want my walkman and comics," Ellie complained.

"Ellie, the whole point of a walkman is to take it with you," Tommy said, revealing he had awoken.

"Joel wouldn't let me take it!" Ellie whined.

"Ellie, you're always listening to that old thing and I wanted to spend time with ya for once," Joel pointed out. Teenagers...

"Joel, let the kid have her music, it's not like she's got any friends or anything. Besides, it's not like you've found one of those fancy smart phones Sarah kept begging for," Tommy pointed out.

"What's a smart phone?" Ellie questioned, tapping her chin.

"It's a device you used to talk to people that weren't in your area. You could also send little letters back and forth on it and play dumb little games," Joel explained.

"Weird... Did girls my age have them?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, almost every single one. They used to have their eyes on it all the time, never looked up from it, looked kinda like the infected, especially the way they incoherently spoke," Joel chuckled.

"Really? Why would you want to be like the infected?" Ellie asked, intrigued with the wonders of the world before the epidemic.

"They didn't know or care about the epidemic that was about to break out. All most of them cared about was clothes and boys," Joel explained. "And dumb teen movies about the apocalypse where the only problem addressed is a love triangle instead of starving children. Or it's about sparkly vampires."

"Why would you pay attention to clothes and boys? Weren't they hungry?" Ellie asked, looking at her own dirty caked attire. Ellie was wearing a simple grey long sleeve with an orange tee shirt layered over top of it. On her waist was stained pair of jeans and on her feet, converse that had seen better days. Ellie's hair was in a simple low ponytail in the back as usual, her deep red hair greasy, yet still beautiful. A confused expression formed on her soft, youthful features, her button nose wrinkling up at the thought of herself only caring about clothes and boys.

"No, believe it or not, food was plentiful. You could walk into a place called a restaurant and they'd seat you at a table. You'd wait and they'd bring you cooked food of your choice and a drink. You'd pay and go home," Joel said. Ellie's face lit up with awe.

"Food wasn't scarce? Wow that's... They didn't realize how lucky they were," Ellie said, amazed at the thought.

"We didn't think it'd go away. So little dumb things would get up under our skin. The epidemic changed our way of life," Joel commented.

"We need to be heading back, you two. Maria's probably worried sick about me," Tommy said, snapping Joel out of old memory lane. Ellie hopped onto her horse, who was standing next to Joel's.

"Hey there, Callus Jr.," Ellie greeted the stead.

"Seriously, what kind of name is Callus?" Joel asked.

"He's a character in Savage Starlight, Joel," Ellie pointed out.

"Oh, that comic you like?" Joel asked.

"Yep, that's the one," Ellie replied as she rode behind Tommy, following him back to the dam.

...

A celebration was held in the return of Joel, Tommy, and Ellie. Maria, who was happy to see Tommy intact. Ellie was joyful at the sight of her walkman and a pile of comics on her nightstand in the cabin, while Joel was happy to sleep without having to listen to Tommy snore and having to wake up to make sure clickers weren't around. Those pesky mushroom heads were always causing trouble! Because of the joyous occasion, there was a feast, and due to a recent search, a movie watched on an old, yet still working projector. Ellie was on cloud nine with everything going on, the food, the people, the music, the movie, it was all so much. In a scavenge, Joel managed to find a guitar in good condition to bring back to the dam, as well as Tommy finding a piano, a fiddle, and some drums. So free music. Heck, Ellie even was able to convince Joel to play Hold On Loosely by 38Special, one of her personal favorites. Sadly, Joel refused to attempt Welcome To The Jungle despite Ellie's begging. Ellie just figured he wasn't a Guns N Roses fan. The party raged all night, but despite her efforts, Ellie fell asleep around two o'clock in the morning against Joel's shoulder. Joel had been talking, but then realized that Ellie was fast asleep. He chuckled and scooped her up to carry her back to the house.

"Leaving so soon, brother?" Tommy asked upon seeing Joel carrying Ellie back to the cabin. Joel nodded.

"Yeah, Ellie's out like a light so I should probably hit the hay as well," Joel pointed out. Tommy chuckled.

"Sarah used to just crash like that from what I remember," Tommy reminisced. Joel sighed before looking back at sleeping Ellie.

"Yeah, Sarah did," Joel nodded. Tommy shuffled his feet.

"I know you miss her, but you should see the way Ellie looks at you. She sees you as her dad, Joel," Tommy pointed out.

"You think?" Joel questioned, not buying it.

"Yeah, and I know you think of Ellie as the second daughter you never had. She's just afraid to call you 'Dad' because of Sarah," Tommy said.

"How do you know that?" Joel asked.

"Ellie told Maria who told me," Tommy answered. Joel looked back down at Ellie, who was mumbling something about pun books in a drowsy tone as she slept. He chuckled at the goofy grin on Ellie's features, implying a pretty good dream.

"Well I need to go turn in. See ya tomorrow, Tommy," Joel said as he walked away. Tommy went running back to the party with a short goodbye.

Joel continued to walk through the little town, cabins everywhere and even shops. Really, it was peaceful to just look around, taking in the sights of intact homes, shops where you could actually get a service done for you, and the peaceful sound of the water from the dam that acted as a barrier of the town as well as tall walls to keep out enemies and infected. Finally, Joel found his cabin near the bakery and the thrift shop. It was a two story log cabin with those stupid flamingos Ellie insisted on having in the lawn. Joel shook his head at the sight of the flamingos.

"I'll still eat ya," he remarked at the barking dog he used to for hunting at times. As if the animal understood, he backed away slowly and went back to sleep on the porch. Joel walked through the door to see the familiar sight of the worn out couch and arm chair with an old TV and the stairs. After heading to the second floor, he took a turn to go into Ellie's room, which in big bold letter's, written in sharpy, said 'Home of the Pun King' on the door. Joel nudged to door open and lied Ellie down on her bed. He pulled the home made quilts and the scavenged sheets up to her chin and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Good night, baby girl," Joel whispered before turning around and leaving the room filled with pun books and comics. He headed to his room and crawled into bed, retiring for the night.

...

_ "Daddy! I wanna go on that slide!" Sarah exclaimed, running towards a tall water slide in the water park. "Come on, Ellie, it's not that bad!" Sarah enthused further, grabbing Ellie's wrists and dragging her towards the watery plunge. Ellie tried to pull away, but Sarah kept dragging her._

_ "Dad! Make her stop!" Ellie exclaimed upon being drug. _

_ "No can do, Ellie, you need to get over your fear of water eventually," Joel chuckled. _

_ "But I'll drown!" Ellie cried as she struggled Sarah's death grip._

_ "No you want, the life guards will save ya if you start to drown. Besides, Sarah's a good swimmer and can drag you to the surface. The water isn't that deep either. Just go have some fun," Joel explained as he walked with the two girls towards the water slide._

_ "W-What kind of water slide is it?" Ellie asked nervously._

_ "It's a tube slide, we can ride it all together on an intertube. You'll like it Ellie," Sarah grinned happily. Ellie's feature's changed from that of stress to a relieved look._

_ "O-Ok, that's not too bad I guess," Ellie agreed._

_ "Daddy, I want to watch Dawn of the Wolf part 2 tonight for movie night," Sarah requested._

_ "Oh come on! That movie's so dumb, why doesn't she get gutted in the end?!" Ellie complained._

_ "No! I get to pick this time, Ellie! You made us sit through Jeff Dunham last week!" Sarah exclaimed._

_ "He's a talented comedian!" Ellie argued._

_ "But cute werewolves are better!"_

_ "Are not!"_

_ "Are too!"_

_ "Are not!"_

_ "Are too!"_

_ "Girls!" Joel exclaimed, catching the two girl's attention. "Ellie, you picked last week, let Sarah pick this time. _

_ "Fine," Ellie grumbled._

_ "Yay!" Sarah exclaimed._

...

Joel jolted awake at the sound of Ellie calling him. Joel groaned before sitting up, wishing the dream had been a reality. Joel walked into Ellie's room to find her crying, clenching her backpack in her arms.

"Somebody stole Riley's dog tag!" Ellie sobbed. Joel rushed to Ellie emidiately checking for injuries.

"Are you hurt, where's the robber?" Joel panicked.

"I don't know. All I know is her dog tag's gone," Ellie cried before throwing herself at Joel, sobbing on his shoulder. Joel wrapped his arms around her.

"It's ok, baby girl, we'll find it," Joel assured.

"It's gone, Dad. Every bit of Riley's gone, she's never coming back," Ellie sobbed unconsciously. Joel froze. No denying it now, he had to be daddy to Ellie.

"It's ok, we'll catch the rascal," Joel whispered. Ellie pulled herself back to her feet and crawled back into her bed, still crying a bit. Joel pulled the covers back over her before enveloping her in a hug once more. "It's ok."

"How dare she call him dad," a voice growled as the mysterious shadow watched from the window.


End file.
